GIC You Later!

Friday, 24th February 2012

00:37

I feel it is almost pointless to even acknowledge my lack of entries at this point. Finding the time to sit down and pour out my thoughts is unfortunately decreasing at a steady rate. I will not, however, stop updating completely. I would like to think that with more things happening in my life in the near future that I’ll find I’ll have more to write about. Sometimes it isn’t that I simply don’t have the time; it’s more that I actually haven’t done anything of particular interest.

But you will be pleased to know that since last August I have done some things of particular interest.

First off, I went to the Gender Identity Clinic down London way last Monday. I had to swap my day at work, and fortunately they didn’t ask too many questions as to why. There were a few queries of innocent wonder, but my girlfriend and I decided to tell them that I was going to the doctors, and that it wasn’t in our town, but that it had something to do with a “downstairs area”. I find that this method is both a good conversation stopper and not a complete fabrication, so you can say it with some conviction!

So yes anyway, by the Sunday night I knew what day it was booked, where it was, but unfortunately only the approximate time. I knew it was 10 something, so that was enough for me to book the ridiculously over-priced train tickets. Meanwhile, Sarah helped me look for the original appointment letter to find the exact time. Organisation isn’t exactly a strong point of mine you see. Well I couldn’t find it, I was getting tired and irritable so I just said I’d ring the clinic on the train to find out the exact time. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. But just as I was getting into bed Sarah did find it and all was right in the world once more.

There is a point to me telling you this by the way. It’s not just a simple, we couldn’t find it, but then we found it story. They’re not wholly interesting on their own.

So I woke up early ready for a big day. Got on the train and sat on it for 2 or so hours, listening to music and podcasts to try and ease the butterflies in my stomach. I got to London, sat on the Underground for another half an hour or so, walked the ½ a mile or so to the clinic, buzzed myself in and spoke to the receptionist.

“Name please”

I gave them my name.

“…..”

I waited patiently.

“…..”

I continued waiting patiently.

“Bear with me a minute”

So she went and fetched a woman from the back room. I looked into her eyes and immediately understood who she was. She was the ‘bad news’ lady.

“Urm, yes. The doctor you are booked with is off ill today…”

My face may have been a picture at this point, I do not know, but I am nothing if not polite, so I took the news well. After all it probably wasn’t their fault. Right?! My work often requires me to be the ‘bad news’ person, and it pretty much is never my fault. I wasn’t about to get angry at these people. Above all else, it’s just not me.

So she then goes on to tell me that I’ll have to rebook my appointment. She didn’t mention how long it will take, but I’m fairly convinced it will be around the same amount of time as it was to get my first appointment; about 6 months.

The one bit of good news she did have, though, was that they would pay for my train fare down there, which I think is pretty fair.

So there we go. I was in and out of there quicker than a trip to the toilet. I then had to head to the main hospital to collect my train fare money and afterwards I headed off back home.

I’d just like to point out that the above transcript is likely to be fairly different to what actually happened, but the main points are in there. I’d also like to make it clear that each of the people that I spoke to were incredibly polite, friendly and welcoming. I have no issues what-so-ever with the people that dealt with me. I am however not very happy that I wasn’t informed about my doctor being off ill before-hand and the fact that my name did not even appear on the appointment list. I believe that I’m not being too unreasonable to think that. This is after all the second time something like this has happened to me in three appointments.

The most irritating thing of the day though was the fact that if Sarah hadn’t found that appointment letter the night before, I’d have found out that my appointment was cancelled when I rang them whilst on the train and I could have saved myself a good five hours sitting on my bum doing nothing!

Oh well, hey. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just a little clerical hiccup. I shan’t let it get to me.

So there we go, that’s a quick update of where I stand at the moment. I have other things that I wanted to talk about as well, but the GIC appointment has taken up quite a lot of room. That’s ok though, hopefully having a subject to talk about will make me come back quicker to bring you another update.

19 Responses to “GIC You Later!”

As for the attitude being displayed at the clinic, well this is something that seems to be going around. No different than let’s say what goes on here, with either cutbacks or doctors leaving due to one issue or another. This has been the curse of the current age and makes the case at times for dealing with other resources if and when available.

A thought came to mind that there are other clinics that have been mentioned in other corners that seem to go around the current NHS web of paperwork. Perhaps that can work as an avenue, assuming that this particular clinic does not provide what is needed.

Oh yes, as was mentioned before from this desk, patience is key on this, with its own rewards. Case in point here, with the fact that after 4 years…I can safely say that the ‘widowmakers’ have been beaten [outside of minor things like headaches] and what seemed to be a lot of prodding, tests and multiple visits have paid off in still being around. Patience here as well as if something does not work out finding a workaround whill do pay off!!

Nice pics as always Hon….!!!Til later and keep in mind that getting from A to B will happen. Do not let the crazy humans [as my cats would say if they could speak *S*] derail anything.

Beautiful photos, and beautiful you. I’m a portrait photographer and think you’re a wonderful model.
You are so strong and wonderfully positive. I’m new to your blog, but glad to have found you. Best of luck with everything. Will be back.

You’re not alone, the staffs are great but the admin side of CX can sometimes be a bit of a hassle.
When you get the date of your next appointment, I would phone them a week or two before just to check. They have a habit of re-arranging appointments and the letter not getting sent out.
If the Dr was ill they may re-arrange some of their existing appointments to fit you in, so you may only have to wait a few weeks.
Patience is defiantly the key, you’re doing so well. xx

hiya Ella, Iam so glad to see and hear from you and fustrated that all was in vain your wasted time going all the way there for nothing,,by the way your photos are as always really good looking forward to hear from you in the future,,love and best wishes,,Sam,,

Stick at it, gal. Here am I 20+ years older and while living as a female for 4 years, ‘downstairs’ still ain’t fixed.

I knew in my early teens. The late 70s and 80s was a very different time. Ah well. I am glad to find an update from you and if you, or anyone, wants a sympathetic ear, at ANY time, DM me on Twitter @Anna66Newton

Don’t worry, eventually it will be your time. By now you already look great, girl. Great legs. As a 24-year-old transgender still in the “needing-hair-depilation-immediately” phase I would love to look as beautiful as you look now. Don’t worry about the time you took to post again, we know you would never abandon us, so you know we love you and will never abandon you either, Ella.

I found your blog last year during my initial questioning phase, and I wanted to let you know that I’m glad to hear things are still moving forward, even at a glacial pace. Embarrassing as it is to admit, passability was my primary cause for hesitation, and your blog was one of the sources of hope I had in that time. 🙂

It’s only been a year for me, but thanks to a great deal of luck and support and tenacity I’ve been on HRT and full time for 7 months and 9 months respectively. From that perspective, I can only say I admire your willingness to be patient; I don’t think I would have been capable of the same (I would certainly have been seeking . . . extra-systemic sources of hormones by now). I know the systems for getting the help you need are very different from here, but I hope you make it through. Everyone deserves to be this happy.

In the past year I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a variety of people across the gender spectrum, including non-binary and genderqueer folks. What you mentioned in your August post about not being certain where you fit makes perfect sense. I often describe myself as going to the other side as far as I can so I can come back to androgyny from the female side. The reason for that is that I enjoy being in the middle appearance-wise, but for reasons I am sure you understand, I am far more comfortable when others view me, and my words and actions, through the lens of femaleness.

I know you didn’t necessarily set out to help people by starting this blog, but you did. I like the Taoist notion of “wei wu wei” which roughly means action without action. In this case, by doing what is right for you, you have the greatest influence, since you show others what happens when one does what is right for them. 🙂

Dear Ella,
Firstly I am glad to hear you are still around. I had been to begin to worry. I am sorry things had turned out as the did. Hopefully they will sort things out soon. Keep your spirits up, things will come good in the end.